Time was when Bartica appeared to have satisfied itself with being known simply as the ‘Gateway to the Interior’. Apart from benefitting from the movement of the miners through the community en route to the goldfields, and perhaps more importantly their stopovers, the proximity of gold offered a permanent option for Barticians seized with the urge to lift themselves above the wage-earning jobs and modest agricultural pursuits that kept many of the residents tied to a moderate existence. Those considerations apart, Bartica also has derived some limited economic gain from being a not unattractive locale for visitors as well as host to the popular Bartica Regatta.
These days, perceptions of Bartica are changing. Many believe that the community only really came of age in May 2016 when, amidst ceremonial drumrolls and cheering crowds, President David Granger and the community’s Mayor, Gifford Marshall, unveiled a plaque as part of a high-profile ceremony to accord the community township status. Just over three years later, in June 2019, Cabinet met at the Bartica Town Hall for the first time.
Those were the symbolic signs of Bartica’s accelerated rise to a formal national recognition that it had not previously enjoyed; though, understandably, the attendant infrastructural appurtenances have lagged behind. The signs are, however, that these will come in the fullness of time. The main streets are paved and even in the face of a gold-mining industry that has fallen on challenging times, hotel accommodation and entertainment facilities are still at a pleasing standard. The cars, mostly taxis, are mainly of the popular brands. Gradually, Bartica is beginning to fit into its skin of the township status that it now enjoys.